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^It^? »-  b?  jocund  wi  ft  ffc,  fruitful  Cra\n> 

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RUBAI  Y  A  Ti 


THE  ASTRONOMER,- POET  OF  PERSIA 

~  TEMPERED  INTO  ENGLISH  VEUSE  BY 

^  EDWARD  TIT2CERAUO 

IL,  WITH 

?  iy*  AN  AC  CO  AAPAN I MENT  - 

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BY  jjfc" 

ELI  HU  VEDDER  j 


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^  BOSTON  - 


>  Copyrighted  BY  houghton,miffun  8cCQJ8£6 


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in.  wfio  sctilter’ci  mlo 
firm.  j-rom  oj-  I^Ujkl' 

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,rret 


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oli tTu.de  retires 


^Aa/hite)^ 

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£ 

j  yam.  o«U«d  is  jonfi  \ 

y\nti J nnvstyci^evV wvuj'dfu}»  wfiere  •> 
£ut  still  aj^aly^usfie*  |yonv  rteV 
j\\\({.  'vr'tvwy  ty  bl 

(>  I 

Ancl^JD^-viti’s  \ijas  Are  lockl";  k*tl*  in  dt\ 

VAvielV/in*! 
Win  ej  — Ifie  ^sl^KK-ivg  aI  e  crie 
^jUfsallew  cUfc  of  ker's  fecar^dl 


I oseS  on  Hip 


QWS 


cmd  uv  ikef  Ire  o  fSjorlnj 
^u.rV/Ivrerjurmfnh  ofR^eitlVmce  flmjf : 

^^"jB'ird  o[  }»»"*  />fts  tud  a  I'ltit*  way 
To  flutter  —  ftticl  rfu*  J^ird  (S  on  t^eNVniCj. 

g 

\vU  <r  o  *N  <usHaJ»u»*  o/j^ftky  Ion  j 
\v&effar  tfieC/wJ?  witfi  sweet* or  kilter  mix, 

TfeW »e  of  Life  keej>s  oo^  eU^droj*, 

Tiff*  Leaves  of  Lift  keef  f*l%  ^y  on«‘. 

E^fi/vV 

T?S;  but  wfl 

^\ndf/*Ii  pnst"Sun  tmer  month  that  bring 

Su  take  Jftmskyd  and  t^ak.o(jad  on 

lo 

Well,  UKlr  hake  fh  emlwfuilkave  wet 

Raikob^d  rf>e*  C»i‘e<tl/or  Rukjio 

jLefv2dl  thunder  as  ffi 

^^rWftiiiacftU  loSu^ee-heednot 


ouSMvd 


_s  om«  for  ifie  ones  c>f  ^ln  s\/Vorl<{ j  ani 

^^«^(a.|Q>*lf\eJ^o|jket',S^j^.racl.ise  lo  come 
y/\fi,  hxke  ifxe^aslx,  and  lei:  rfie(jed 
^^\|or  4eed  tile  ruw\>lf  of  «.  dis^i-D 

j  ^)olc  lo  Hip  blowm<j"J^ose  about"  us — j_c 

j^au-tj fv i vlc) j  sfie  says,  ivtfo  lAe  wor  l< 

.*■■-** 

rfie  silken.  I"a^sel  of  vr»y  I  ur 


t*um. 


once. 


reasure  cm 


hrow, 


ecu*  anti 


fio  kiLS  banded  f(\e  (^jplde>i  ^ranv, 

Lo  filing  U~lo  We  wm.c(s  in 

no  suefi  tfutrea-te  Are  tuWi 

ml"  dug  ujo^icjetm 

t*W  en-^lecirfs  ujoo 


lose  w 


once 


anon 


lu-l\S 


pnow  ujsoiv  f  lie  J^ye  s 
n.  li  We  hour  or  Iwo 


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jlUk  ,ia  l^is  l>fl.tti*rfelCaravA>\.Sf  mi. 
XA/tasrTortals  art  alWivalV  JVfjtl'  a  rul  iXly , 

H  ow  Suit&n  aflW  S«.lt  an  w»  rfi 

/\\>o d«  A»% <d«shWcl  ^'loucra^^J. f»»*  w«y . 

^  IS 

llxey  setylde  i- >on  n.v>dff\*  J^arcl  k*r)»^ 
jlke  Cottrls  v*^«*reJ<*'Wsfyctj|ioN«»i  and ‘trank 

fHunforJlvV/U  A  u 

^Slaiujai  ©Vrfin  Hea,barmnno  ttwak  ^•iSift'k* 


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■V  V  f  /  C'V  — 

*  <v  ^  -•  ■'>  ",  if  < .  is&Z'..:.  - 

,^V-V  •  '-AM 

tss&.  ^>k 


— -  y  ^.  •* 1 


,;u 


j^r  some  wt*  loved.}  ffif  love  It  esl*  fm.fl  tfie  Lesl” 
TUf  1*0  m  /li^/nxlftjg  rollovgj^c  fias>  st'j 

jHave  drunk  rtinrfu^a^uUorrv-obefare, 
jf\nc\.  o ne  by  one  ci*eJ>l”SilfeivKy  lo  »*ost“. 

^td  we,  iWnowmalJ  meri^  <n  lfiiff^>o>n 
^jky  U t-^anil^ainmev'  dresses  mw  (doom, 
Qiu-setveswslrwe  be«e<dk  ^(ouck  of far  A 
^Qesccntl- ourselves  loit»ak«  a^oucfi-jor  w/»om? 

A^make  |fi<-mosto|*wkal'vye^e('mny  S^endj 
3«f°  re  we  lob  mlo  tfif)u.sl"  descend^ 
f)uSf  Inl'oJWv  an<t  U.sl*,  lo  )  U , 

^<ms\A/ue  j  sans^oxg ,  Sa-n^  my  er,  and— Sansfnd  f 

ss^pggEgs5g£S  11 . .  "  ■■ 


rtwpwli«)|or  ^o-BAy  jorpfxire, 

■\  ifuii’Clffetr  SOYnf  ^O-A\0«ROW  $!«,»-«, 

[  A/V«SV*  |-rr)m  t^g  |owi>r oj^<u-knpS5  c-nfS^ 

I  S}^ols!j^oarJ^ ward  is  n«»ifi\erJ“l{>'*1?T'or 

\/V^y,  all  ^f^a-infs  awl^a^es  wf*o  clt'scusiU 
rfie  ^woWorlcU  SoUftlrft.tdly  arc  tftru.it 

j^',ke  fo«i;s(ipro|J.^5^  •  ri',e,rVy>,,-.-t  i  Is^yoi’ifx 

y^\n>  lit  !r^\oujf\!  •»  'Jopw!^J)ush 

2J 

self  vdxenyoimcj  clid  e&ej «dy 
J^octar  AMd^a^rmd.  flPnrAjreal'^rjumPnt 

y\bout  'd-crncL  about* *t>ui"  evermore 

(Ai,rv«i  avd"  by  l{»p  seme  door  wfiere  on-  J  w<rrj\ 

NA/fL  f^nvtfie  seed  oj-\A/lsio«U*d]  sow; 

y^\r»d  udlfimy  owvuf»<Mtd'A*Voa<J^-Ho  wiki*  ih^fow 
y^^dtkis  w«  a)l  I  rpajp’ct- 

J  (AW«  li!<eWn«t  |y*> 


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a? 


^vilo  fms\Au  verse ,  oml  nohknowmj, 

|\for  ,  i  i  kXvrtlee  \«i'l|y>yv»Uy^ov/ju<j ; 

/\y\ti  oui*of  itj  a JVVm*L  aU«{ 
j  know  yiohift^^/-,  wilty-nllly  blowing » 

\yiuil'>  w.'  rf»oul* o 4 kiW^li'rfvf r  turned 

wiltou.1*  askiwj » Id^/^rtuirried.  (if>u€  f 

a  Gf>  6f^'s  forkdde\\/)xe 

-^Xust-drtwxrie  ivm ory  of  rfmi*  insolence! 


. | .  :  ; 


■Nfcw-**' 


31 


>')IesterdaY>^s  did  jir^are  j 

^1 0  -/Ae  R.Row*ls  S>  i  fence  ^Tjri  umjjfi^iXXsjjan* : 

X-^Uvklfoi^you,  know  m>t‘wfienu.e^oucam^nor\wftyl 

j3^'»nk | fo^oakuow  nof"  wfiy^y oujj©, nor  wf\.e re. 


..-■•■  ^  ::*■"  ■  :fl.  .  .  *_yr 

"•  ■  *■*&?:  %r* .•  •  •  -  , 


•  >  .  .•*-»-  ,■*•  ■***•  • 

r  ‘  -  » •  ,+L  **i  • 


* 


-• 


, 


* 


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•  , 


. 


ivt  down.  on  (fvP  |loor 

f  Arfi,  awl  u(>  |5  j-jfAvVi  ukio^hI. ^"P0^ 

w)^u  j«5«Jo-bAY, wlu'le^ou  Ayf^ovc-  f)o  w  rfien 

^o-MO**©wJ^[ou.  wUrt  skftlt  le'yo*  "»*<»•*  ? 


>\\/rt.*le  noi~yotu- }-|our>  nor  intfie  vaivtjsurstut 

Of  ^K»S  an  i7h«t  pixt^Avour  aixcL  ; 

Tj^etter  beJwcuntL  w'tfitfie  jruilf’ul  (^va|>p 
^Kan  sackW  A^fw*  nonf,  orhtl’vrjfi'Uil . 


■W 


J  hll  sMwl  j“i»or*v  rf»e  Oddi,  ' 

C^/er  rf»«  flfl-iwinj  sfioulderc  oj^ij^al 
C^f  jHpav'1'"]R'*w,^v  tfityjluntjj 

j*.  j3r*<lftri^4fjPtol*o^"i^asl*a'>'vrL^^oal 

^  3S" 

jhe\/mf>  fuul  struck  a^tve about 

]f  dmji  «y'B.mj-ttl-rf,f'Perv;«(lj)  Outj 

Of  metal  may  bv^ileela  Jf^ey, 

Jlluf  sf,  all  unlock  fbtj^oor  fie  liowis  v*itf)ftui\ 

36  ^ 

y^vut  Hi  i<>|  (enow  I  wfietiiei*  tfl?  On* 

&«*  lU  lo|-«OVe,Q^/Vl'Arfl-COASUTn« 

c&Miffi  vrf«l^»»vlii^Aver>x  caugkh 

3*^>-  rf>  an  m  rflf  losf  oulriq kt*. 


\^/|d jB- <3-W^  Otvin1  through  the^rvenfh Cal* 

I Y6se,on4.  on.t6e*P'"rone  c^Srtium  sale> 

a  j^)\at  UAnvvt^U  bytfa*]^oclcl, J 

J^>ut  nol-t(»i*/^\rtsl>r-knoh  pfH*w***T^** 


n 


(here  was 


i(J)m  la  s*/(\i  civ  |  jo«*t no  K?y > 

ncrc  was  ^cV*illliro«glvwl»clv)co«4l4  nohs^g . 

littfe  folk  f(&'4i!!<'  o(  M« 

^Jier®  was — an4.rfien.no  mor<*  o^'Jhfe  o'*t/^\g.  % 


Ik 


31 


j^o/rrfv  couUiivol' AuswerJ  norliejSeaS  fin|- -mourn 

Jh  |-)owiu<j"Jtcr|»le,C^  ifieir  jt-oncl  forlorn] 
l\Jor  rolllVo  f~|pA.wenjW»flv  all  TWfdlM 

^  h  y\ncl  (iirldeK  ly  ifc  sleeve  oj-  cmfty N^oerv, 

Wk 


♦ 


'fc-a  of  works  Ukm< 

J  l»f  M  *|>  wy  jind 

/\  j^.A»r4>  aWllt  tfll*  jpAJrkHt*** >  J 
As  frowV/ftai *1*— The  /V ""THi  wJS 


)  h<o?d,the  oecrefcef  hi  earn: 

An<tL«>  l®L*^  ^  nwmuairVl  -NA/kiU^wtl  IV 

Driak)  -for,  w**  cleadjryniLmwF  sUli  return' 

/| 

J  rfu'nk  jfc*Vesifri>  rf»cU>*ilk|uj»hv« 

ion.  ojvSN*e»*H» oncff 


Arfcu,ttttf 
/\n<L  ctrmJt;  (iy\d/\fij  w 

J“"{ow  ■mnn^j^SSe?  wfjllt ij" feltt 


r  i  & -A 


ouv-  K*uj>s  v»r  raw 
ufctttily  ilVki  Uiow 


o  qtienCi 


!owt  omo 


<?nva.\ 


jCr  1  i^me>nl>ftr  s|b(?(>m^  by  ffxy  w&y 

lo vfntJi  cijott&r  rfiumj^Uvfj ft«r wehOrtyy 

|-  J|~  ’murmu.'r'cl- 


4* 


SftiM 


}J  $len-  kfv*!- 1 

tiahjf'lu.mo)!NA/fk»s)>€rc«w\e 

|he  lutklwsMouU  tit  vt  tilik/Annkmd  Was  «n  I"  j 

t  Mmf , 


-  *»<4$6v 


-  s&M  ;i 


-v  Jtp1w>  hCxfpi 

Jr,.  -  -^r>  •.P^i^aQPj 

•r  ./S^Y s*  ,  >.  ^r*  \  -'■{■**-  »;f 


I . 


: 


- 

‘ 


,avrft  mvprt 


*V»l\€^ 


[U.Tn«n  01- 


erpUxt  no  more  wi 

0-lna»-row'j  tanjU  lo  ITie  Wind 

J\*<L  Ios«>ou.y  |pin;£(e.'S  in 
lie  rybness-sl^n.cle.vyV^avisI 


•'/“lORROW^OU. 


V4sfiU5  oul  lan  ,f'13  ASldc^ 

^\*\cl  Halted  on  o^j~| Gave n  rut 

\AXrH*  'no{*f^f»«we-w<?»''('rtolj^^)vrtme  Jt>rf\im 

tin's  clay  carcase  Grilled  lo  abide? 

SI 

[JT  U^~ \4i*»r*>  takes  fm  one-Hoys  zest 
\^>ultan  lo  tfic*  realm.  o^X^A-rfi  Adttrf-st ; 
^ke  Rattan  rises,  and  I ftf  dark]*erras(i 
>h*tkes>  And  J»rpJ»nres  ll'j^ar  another Cjaest. 


N  ^ 

fect-v  not  Ustfca  sletue  closing  your 

artel  vn.<ixe,sftou.lcl  knowfU  It  ke  rtoiuorej 

'jlt^terna^akC  tH a(J)OwI  Us  j>our»<L 

/v^iUom  dfj^ubbles  like  us,  ovul  will  Jsour. 

'  S\ 

anclj  kfkm<t  |»«-sl  3 

ku£"H\e  [rmjy  ioi^q|  w  A.ile  sUll  la-sbj 

tick  of  ouv  ^ctj[)e|>ar{u.ve  fiejt cLs 

is  rfi£^Ev3N^cAS  *Uuld  fieeel  a-kcbUe-cast. 

' A  *4 

j~^\/V\onxo\x.t>%J~-{a-\t — a wom*»-d<ary  Ihsle 
(2}f  3£,Ne:  f1 1'0”1  rfieWell  aw!  *1  lk<*Y\Aste  — 

— fke  fjfui.nl Oh\^u-ec\*an.Us  reach’d 
Rg  ^Iothinc;  ll sel'otvhfl'om— kasle! 


-Sfrz 


, 


“ 


» 

H tm&rm3- — 


VMm  *  m  lil 


llI  diy  o  u.  that  s^ujle  of  Jl*  i  sfe  n+KffrenA 
/\lout  ^HE^BCRtT-  Cjuuk  dnul-ctj-nencL ! 

Ah  |cu>  JaerfiajjS  divides  tfip'^uls^muCjiraC 

/\vxd  ujooiv JaWffcee,  does  J^tfe  A^fawl  ? 
jhU‘*  d«  vide*  tixt  J~a.lt e  <mil  'jv  ue  \ 

;j  arwA 4 4«»vjle w*'*e  Aue  —  l|| 

QM^  M*  f  .W  U*  -  lo  Ifxe'pf  «wur  *4onse, 

jx*~adyjf>yti£X9  1-0  ^hc^Aaster 
secrel^ese^e^r^ft^UlWj  vet*vs 
(^u.it^<lve)*-1»ke'  Hud«JfOur  j>wnsj 

I^VgdlsL^s^^A 

m  f^e^d|3ens(vall-l;ul'H^  remans; 

^or^enb^u-ess’d-rfien  Wk  beUruLlheJolcl 
.{‘  r :  InttniPtst"  o^P<irkness  rotmd  iRe^vama-rollM. 

iftejashW  of  ^Ejerhify, 
e  <|oes^— jimsd|-fon.rTi ve^ enact^  |>ehoi<L. 


- _ .  ■»'•%** 


T^Wy 


"•!Vte*v  Vv 


hr  h  <m<L  js-NOT  Ktaugk  wilij^ale  artel 


y^nd.  Up-and-down  ly  ^S3'e  A  de^ne 

(S)f-  o-ll  fjicit’ftne  skoalel  care  To  |-<vrf><”n>  ) 
^^/a.%  v<ever  drej?  nv  avCyffu^ej  tud— W*ue.. 

A  ^ 

Ah,  L*-hvy  (ambulations, poj»$c  say; 

c<«l  rfi^ear  li  l>efrf>r  vpckonjn^ 

^  o>Uy  striking  h-om  ttaQiltnilar 


\ 


\jyvl>oryTjc 


^aviH  deacl  jpslercta^. 


o-mon-ow.au 


SSjp?#  -.If-^^aiWtr*..'.; 


■M 


■■ 


y/\ixd.  lately,  /^y  d\e  javern  |}oor  <^(a.|»e> 

s(imi«^  tfn-ouc/v  liie^usk  aw/V^el  ^U|»e 

'^^eaviVc)  «^V4ssfl  on  fus  ^fionlcler  j  en\ot 

j“|e  l>i'd  me  la^h  of  il‘j  cin<i  >l»jn.*  — rfie  Q-n)>«  f 

63 

^jft«  Q-ajoe  lf\al-(em  w.’Hi  L~f)ie  Solicit 
j(k€  Jwo -ancl^evc»vf> jarriny^actt  Confute.  I 

jlie  Soverei^x^lcfi  cmist  rf»cl(*m  «.  fVice 
fife's  leetf(<?n  v>veftil  hyP©  frcuvSvmcle . 


s, 


^\/V^y  Le  itaisjuice  ffipjjrowfii  oj"  Ciocl^fio  dare 
'^)lasf^en\e  the  IwisiecL  tendril  as  a^^nare  , 
y\felessinj,^e  should,  use  ltj  should  *e  not? 

y\ncl  if-  (C C ^urse  —  ^j^y}  Kumi^aIio  s et" •  l~[f)ere  ? 

66  , 

j  im^h  abjure  rt\eP>cdm  °f  mus-l", 

^jco-reci  j>y  soi^tf/\[f(Jr-VPckon!n<)  I*’**  on  Tnist^ 
l u.re cl  wilfkj-^j*  o^some^ivlnerj^rnik^ 
^0  j-ill  lK«»(^u|i— wkeix  criuvxb) ei mfcTj[3tsH 


.Wtlf 


>  ,,-v 

V  —  A^.-  ;  .  - 


/ 


■awES 


>**"V." 


V 

(^)/l  ritrMil  oj"  J"“{pli  ®"d  i*i  oj-  J^u-et  dist  j 
tfu'yijf  al‘  IfAst”  »*>  cerfain,  — '"fit's  jm'f’i4  j^ei  \ 

On«  ^  »*  C?^ai  it  <oit{  [fit1  re»sJ“»s  ^je'S^ 

LIowk  jor  ever  dies. 

68 

^tv«»vtje;i’s  if  r><d?  filed"  of^**  T*y»*'fl<U  v*(m 
"^^e^Ore  us  jjass’d  rfie  dUor 0^X)arkaess  ffn-oujfi 
/4  ov»e  returns  To  tell  us  o|  rfieJ^oacL^ 
ii  discover  w<»tmisl-  travel  fro. 

.  ,  <59  , 

m|[ie"T^evetah  ona  oj'^^evAul'  A  »<L  J*lW,»l  d 

Wo  rose  before  icy"”1  as~]?of>fids  turn'd, 
J\rt  all  W^rorJe^wtu^awoke  ^ronx^jleejo 

^J[uy  hold  fte'.rpWs,  And  • 


' 


‘ 


‘ 


» 


I 


m 


■r 


t  -v.  • 


?o 


^  sehtmy^onA  rfivoixcjfv.  rfie  jjavrsible, 

C^ornt  Utter  of  rfial^/\frer-life  lo  sfislll 

J\\\eL  bycm4.(>y  my^ou,l  rellu-ixVl  /  o  me, 

awswerM.  “j/Ayself  ttm.  Jf-jeav\  \an  4M>* 


7  i 


Heav’„  but  (fi^/s'on  of  pulfillvfI}£Sire^ 
cl  j”Ull  tfie^/iatlo  v/  of  a5oul  oia  p re , 

<m tfieJ^cu^Uieis  mlo  wf\tc(v^)ktrseUes, 
So  l«-te  eme^xj'<Lfyom_,st»A.U So  Soon.  ex|>ive. 


■«&>« 


we  are  no  omer  i  nan  a.  movnuj  row 
^^[y^\aglc^(>aclow-s  flCijoes  rfial’comf  rmg{.  (jo 
^onncl  wilit  rfns^un-tl lumo^cij anfe rit  field 

fiyffae  y|V\asl? r 


72 


^ni^olentj  ieces  o|  liie^ame J— (e  j>lays 
\jbon.  rklifttcfrue r.loarti  of flgkt,  etn  <t J)tys; 


dfier  am(.thllf 


ifrivioves^ttndcheck^antl  slays, 


^\-wel  one  j>y  one  Lack  i'v  *•0  035  I- lays. 


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uij^u] k l~ o s  strikes  ifieTcayer joes; 


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A/rfi  jlo-rrfis  j-iVil’Qoy  Hul  rfie|_r^l‘/v\^v  kn 

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y\u  r(\t  first’ Mornincj  of  Qc-atio* wrote 
\\^cl|-  ff,^aslT)avv>v  ofReckonnuj  sUll  rear!. 


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stood)  Surrounded  by  ff^^kajjeso^^Tcty. 

_,  83 

ofaU^oiTs  an 4^ i  *e  5  ,jf  i-  e  at  ma.1 l 

stood,  along  tf\«>|U©r  audj>y  tfc  wattj 

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^  f  “My  Stt  Stance  of-  tfiP  com  mflnfarfk  vuav  ta?*n 
to  tt\isjpl^arc  moulded)  to  be  kroke } 
^atk  te  skftjtelessJ&crA^aiiv/ 

|ken  sold  a.  S  Kond-^/sfeV  r  a  ^ee*'sQ3>oy 
“Would  break  ftajE^owi.  |ron\  wktck  kef(v«u>k  injoy  j 
iAndH*  rfiat’wlli  k*S  U*d  ttA^ssel Vnode 

^Vyrtl  surety  noh’nftf((Pi\v{‘Al'|vci?sh*dy ? 

^/\ffet-  a.  vnonumlvcty  silence  sj^nke 
^  om  A^ssel  of  a n-»0H»  umj<un|y  /Aftk*  j 
sneered  w*  |or)*an»vie|  alt  cv+/ry  C 

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(  Du>f'U  )nt*  wilk  tfu  oUfwullarJiLtce, 
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^/\  ml  Iciy  y>\«j  sf»\»oadetL  ivl  lfi€  liynxj^ge*-^ 

some  notunfveq^eixlett^artteix-siele . 


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y\/ouifi.  L>uttfi<rp)esert  of  Hie^ountcun^ieM 
(^KjLg)  ;^se  -  If  cLmJj,yet-  mie  e^ve  veal'cl, 

).  w|ii  eft  tfi*  JfcwnKnjJraveUtr  mUjIvl-S^imj, 

^-\s  sJarlyujS  tfie  tyarixjoleel  herWjeofrfiepelH,  ! 

9S 

xA/oulcUal-some  wmtjtd/Vjjel  ere  loo  l aft 
^Vrresl’  rfi e^yeb  unfolded  of~J^tit<? , 

Ad  Ilia  ke  Hi?  sterivjp^ecorclpr  oHiPi-wise 

^y*j isler>  or  c^iu'le  oUi h rale  f 

Ja^o**'  could_yoaa)v<l  j  wiljijH  imcon^iV* 
HiiS  &orry^cfvemg  ^jiKi^S  entire  > 

VVCu  nol'w*  scatter  dhlo  l>ils— m'd^u>v 

&*»nouM  d  nearer  fb  ifc  j— (e«vt^J)*sire. ! 


Yon  v‘'s,>^J(/A00n  tf\a l*  looks  for  uy  ay< 

J— (ow  oft  k  ereaffer  will  ske  wax  and' 

J  (ow  oft  kereafter  rising  look  ft: 

(iron^k  ifi.s  same  garden. —  and  for 

A  c. 

^^\nd  wkenliKfc  ker,  ok  ^^ak> ^yoti  ska.  «>  c 

^\miwq  ike^uests^recr- scatter'd  on  H\e ^rass, 
__>/\nd  in^your  kiissful  errand  reacktke  sjoot 
\\Le)  in  *de()  ne  —  fieri v  down  an  ew>  ^(tass! 


r  c* tc  mvanu 


ass 


‘ 


. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  NOTES. 


The  Quatrains  as  given  in  this  volume  differ  slightly  in  order  from  that  adopted  by 
Fitzgerald,  but  the  entire  ioi  retained  by  him  are  here  included.  These  notes  are  given 
merely  to  suggest  a  few  of  the  most  obvious  meanings,  without  the  intention  of  limiting 
the  imagination  of  those  who  will  gain  more  pleasure  from  trusting  to  their  own  inter¬ 
pretations. 

Cober. 

The  swirl  which  appears  here,  and  is  an  ever-recurring  feature  in  the  work,  represents 
the  gradual  concentration  of  the  elements  that  combine  to  form  life  ;  the  sudden 
pause  through  the  reverse  of  the  movement  which  marks  the  instant  of  life,  and  then 
the  gradual,  ever-widening  dispersion  again  of  these  elements  into  space. 

3Umng  paper* 

The  serpent,  the  vine  in  fruit,  and  the  clinging  plant  in  flower. 

jfroittteptccf. 

Omar,  surrounded  by  his  jovial  companions,  looks  down  on  the  ambitious  warrior,  the 
miser,  the  student,  the  theologian,  and  delivers  his  admonition. 

Cttle  Page, 
publisher’#  sparfe. 

SDebicatton. 

#mar’0  (Emblem. 

A  bird  singing  on  a  skull,  while  the  rose  of  yesterday  is  floating  away  on  the  stream. 

%\ )Z  $toabeiung.  Verses  1-3. 

%  be  2Dfjougt)tful  £>oul  to  ^olttttbe  retires.  Verses  4-6. 

IO)e  ifinbltation.  Verses  7-10. 

SDbe  £>ong  m  ttje  Mttoerness.  Verses  u,  12. 

%\ )Z  BlotDmg  Hose.  Verses  13-16. 

Xfyt  Courts  Of  31amsbpt).  Verses  17,  18. 

%\ )t  KtoerdUp.  Verses  19-21. 

%\ )t  llong  Hest.  Verses  22-24. 

This  figure,  representing  Being,  descends  to  a  still  profounder  rest  than  that  of  sleep, 
as  shown  by  the  poppies  falling  from  her  hand.  She  is  throwing  aside  the  garment  of 
life,  and  the  flame  of  her  existence  is  flickering  to  its  close. 

CbfOlogp.  Verses  25-28. 

The  saints  and  sages  of  old  are  dimly  discerned,  like  dried  forms  caught  in  the  spi¬ 
ders’  webs  and  dust  of  Time.  Their  vain  theories  and  prophecies  are  symbolized  in 
the  circle  of  books  each  overthrowing  its  predecessor,  with  the  grim  skull  as  the  centre. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  NOTES. 

Wjrnce  ant)  Mf)ttf)n7  Verses  29,  30. 

“  Into  this  Universe  like  Water,  and  out  of  it  as  Wind.” 

%\ )t  Cup  of  Pc#patr.  Verse  3 1 . 

2Q)C  Warn  Pursuit.  Verses  32,  33. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  alchemist  who  endeavors  to  extract  the  secret  of  life  from  the 
living  plant,  heedless  the  while  of  his  own  life,  which  is  passing  away  like  the  smoke 
from  his  furnace. 

®mar’#  poro#copc.  Verses  34-36. 

Presented  symbolically.  The  vine  entwining  Jupiter  and  the  Pleiades,  the  stars  un¬ 
der  whose  ascendency  we  are  told  Omar  was  born.1  With  the  poet’s  tendency  of 
mind,  one  can  easily  see  how  he  would  compare  favorably  the  absolute  freedom  and 
sincerity  of  the  search  for  truth  within  the  Tavern  with  the  stagnation  and  ultimate 
petrifaction  of  thought  within  the  Temple. 

Attain  Questioning.  Verses  37-39. 

Absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  the  Universe,  the  soul  of  the  philosopher  rises 
even  to 

%\ )t  SOjrorte  of  Saturn, 

Grasping  many  truths  by  the  way,  but  ever  baffled  by  the  master  problem  of  human 
fate. 

%\)t  ©oul  of  tf)e  Cup.  Verses  40-42. 

Murmurs  lip  to  lip  and  gazes  into  Omar’s  eyes. 

%\) e  prabrnlp  pottrr.  Verses  43-45. 

As  Omar,  in  imagination,  saw  the  potter  forming  the  cup  out  of  clay  that  once  lived, 
so  the  artist  sees  in  the  potter  an  angelic  workman  remoulding  the  clay  into  some 
form  which  may  hold  a  far  better  wine  than  that  of  the  cup  from  which  the  poet 
drank. 

fflt) t  Cup  of  JlofcC.  Verses  46-48. 

%\)t  Cup  Of  Pfatt).  Verse  49. 

%\ )e  butane.  Verses  50,  51. 

In  the  cripple  is  typified  the  vast  majority  of  mankind  who  prefer  (perhaps  wisely)  to 
remain  in  this  “clay  carcase”  with  which  they  are  familiar  and  more  or  less  satisfied, 
rather  than  to  trust  to  the  attenuated  joys  of  unlimited  space,  whither  the  disem¬ 
bodied  spirit  passes. 

Pratt)’#  Krbtrto.  Verses  52-54. 

The  indignation  on  the  faces  of  the  great  army  of  humanity  is  for  the  ignorance  in 
which  they  remain,  during  this  brief  span  of  conscious  existence,  of  all  that  lies  before 
and  after. 

2Dt)r  31nrbttablr  jfatr.  Verses  55-58. 

This  figure  of  an  all-devouring  sphinx  stretched  over  the  remains  of  Creation  typifies 
the  destructive  side  of  Nature,  which  “Taking  all  shapes  from  Mah  to  Mahi,  they 
change  and  perish  all.” 

2Dt)r  315tttrr  Cup. 

A  pause  to  mark  the  change  of  tone  in  the  poem. 

Paugtjter  of  tljr  flUmr.  Verse  59. 

2Dt)r  Ptborrr  of  Kra#on.  Verses  60,  61. 

Both  pages  are  here  included  in  the  composition.  • 

1  If  it  is  remembered  that  the  constellation  of  the  Pleiades  was  also  called  by  the  ancients  “The  Cluster  ot  Grapes,” 
it  may  throw  a  little  more  light  on  the  metaphor 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  NOTES . 


%\)t  31arrtns  £>CCt0.  Verses  62,  63. 

Above  is  shown  the  Heaven-given  wine  (taken  literally  or  typically),  below  the  secta¬ 
rianism  which  loses  sight  of  the  spirit  in  fierce  disputes  over  the  letter. 

%\ )C  Splgljtp  SpatjniUt).  Verse  64. 

Represented  as  Bacchus  dispersing  with  the  juice  of  the  grape  Physical  Pain,  Melan¬ 
choly  Madness,  and  Ambition,  “The  black  horde  that  infest  the  soul.” 

2Df )t  tiUmc*  Verses  65,  66. 

2 L\)t  present  listening  to  tlje  cMoices  of  tf)e  past.  Verses  67-69. 

K\ je  foul’s  Hnsiuer.  Verses  70,  71. 

i?ates  gathering  in  tfje  ^>tars.  Verses  72-74. 

The  artist  has  here  carried  the  idea  of  the  poet  a  step  further,  and  represented  the 
game  as  being  played  with  the  Universe  instead  of  merely  with  man.  Having  laid 
aside  the  instruments  of  human  destiny,  the  Fates  in  illimitable  nets  now  gather  in  the 
Stars  themselves. 

Limitation.  Verses  75,  76. 

That  of  man’s  faculties  is  symbolized  by  the  Eagle  chained  to  the  rock  ;  and  the  irrev¬ 
ocability  of  the  laws  of  nature  by  the  stars  bound  together  and  with  their  courses 
rigidly  defined  through  space.  Opposite 

%\ )t  becoming  0ngfl 

Is  shown,  who  with  his  attendants  may  well  have  ears  bandaged  to  shut  out  the 
agonized  appeals  of  humanity  lifting  up  its  hands  in  hopeless  supplication. 

2D! je  Laot  span.  Verse  77. 

Alone  amid  the  remains  of  his  race.  Love  dead  at  his  feet,  and  the  spirit  of  Evil 
whispering  hatred  of  “  this  sorry  scheme.” 

Lobe  shrinking  affrtgt)trn  at  ttjc  sight  of  S?eU.  Verse  78. 

%\)t  SpagDalcn.  Verses  79,  80. 

3ln  tije  Beginning.  Verse  81. 

Omar’s  reasoning  has  carried  him  so  far  that  he  cannot  believe  he  is  a  mere  irrespon¬ 
sible  agent,  nor  can  he  persuade  himself  that  he  is  entirely  responsible.  He  therefore 
concludes  that  he  is  both  free  and  fated,  and  this  conclusion  leads  to  the 

parDon  gibing  ano  parDon  ^Imploring  Uanos 

Filled  with  the  tangled  skein  of  human  life. 

31n  tl )C  Potter’S  J^otisr.  Verses  8 2,  83. 

%\ )t  tKngainlp  Pot.  Verses  84-86. 

2Dtje  Loquacious  Vessels.  Verses  87-89. 

SDtje  €no  of  Hama^an.  Verse  90. 

Omar’S  2Comb.  Verse  91. 

Spring.  Verses  93-95. 

It  is  useless  and  even  pernicious,  if  one  wishes  to  combat  the  seductiveness  of  the 
pleasures  of  the  senses,  utterly  to  ignore  them.  They  exist  as  much  as  man’s  other 
faculties,  and  have  their  proper  uses  and  place.  Examine  and  dissect  them,  and  one 
will  be  enabled  to  give  them  their  proper  weight.  This  is  the  aim  of  the  poet  against  an 
overwhelming  pressure  in  the  other  direction  leading  only  to  hypocrisy,  a  thing  which 
Omar  most  of  all  detests, 
foutb  atlD  $gC.  Verse  96. 

%\)C  S>orrp  £>ct)cmc.  Verses  97-99. 

Looking  around  and  seeing  such,  creatures  as  the  buzzard,  which  only  preys  on  the 
helpless  or  already  wounded  creatures,  and  beholding  everywhere  life  secured  by 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  NOTES. 


another’s  death,  Love  flies  to  the  heart  of  Man,  where  alone  in  Nature  it  finds  a 
refuge. 

31  n  Qjkmortam.  Verses  IOO,  IOI. 

The  sigh  of  all.  Omar,  with  his  feeble  hope  of  a  future,  but  calmly  contemplating 
inexorable  death,  still  longs  for  a  continuance  of  existence,  if  only  in  the  hearts  of 
his  companions. 

Artist’s  Signature* 

If  an  explanation  of  this  be  required,  why  may  it  not,  in  its  high  and  low  notes,  repre¬ 
sent  the  light  and  shade  in  which  this  work  is  done  ?  Hastily  plucked  and  rudely  fash¬ 
ioned,  this  double  pipe  is  (the  artist  believes)  yet  capable  of  producing  some  music 
worthy  of  the  listening  ear. 


NOTES  ON  THE  TEXT. 


\_Mr.  Vedders  arrangement  of  the  Rubaiyat  includes  the  entire  translation  of 
Mr.  Fitzgerald, ,  but  in  a  slightly  different  order .  The  notes  which  follow 

correspond  by  number  to  the  quatrains  as  arranged  in  this  volumef\ 

2.  The  “  False  Dawn  ”  ;  Subhi  Kazib,  a  transient  Light  on  the  Horizon  about  an  hour  before 
the  Subhi  sddik,  or  True  Dawn  ;  a  well-known  Phenomenon  in  the  East. 

4.  New  Year.  Beginning  with  the  Vernal  Equinox,  it  must  be  remembered  ;  and  (howsoever 
the  old  Solar  Year  is  practically  superseded  by  the  clumsy  Lunar  Year  that  dates  from  the  Mo¬ 
hammedan  Hijra)  still  commemorated  by  a  Festival  that  is  said  to  have  been  appointed  by  the 
very  Jamshyd  whom  Omar  so  often  talks  of,  and  whose  yearly  Calendar  he  helped  to  rectify. 

“  The  sudden  approach  and  rapid  advance  of  the  Spring,”  says  Mr.  Binning,  “  are  very  strik¬ 
ing.  Before  the  Snow  is  well  off  the  Ground,  the  Trees  burst  into  Blossom,  and  the  Flowers 
start  from  the  Soil.  At  Naw  Rooz  ( their  New  Year’s  Day)  the  Snow  was  lying  in  patches  on  the 
Hills  and  in  the  shaded  Vallies,  while  the  Fruit-trees  in  the  Garden  were  budding  beautifully,  and 
green  Plants  and  Flowers  springing  upon  the  Plains  on  every  side  — 

*  And  on  old  Hyems’  Chin  and  icy  Crown 
An  odorous  Chaplet  of  sweet  Summer’s  buds 
Is,  as  in  mockery,  set  ’  — 

Among  the  Plants  newly  appear’d  I  recognized  some  Acquaintances  I  had  not  seen  for  many  a 
Year :  among  these,  two  varieties  of  the  Thistle  ;  a  coarse  species  of  the  Daisy,  like  the  Horse- 
gowan ;  red  and  white  Clover ;  the  Dock ;  the  blue  Corn-flower ;  and  that  vulgar  Herb  the 
Dandelion  rearing  its  yellow  crest  on  the  Banks  of  the  Watercourses.”  The  Nightingale  was 
not  yet  heard,  for  the  Rose  was  not  yet  blown  :  but  an  almost  identical  Blackbird  and  Wood¬ 
pecker  helped  to  make  up  something  of  a  North-country  Spring. 

4.  Exodus  iv.  6 ;  where  Moses  draws  forth  his  Hand  —  not,  according  to  the  Persians, 
“leprous  as  Snow,”  —  but  white,  as  our  May-blossom  in  Spring  perhaps.  According  to  them 
also  the  Healing  Power  of  Jesus  resided  in  his  Breath. 

5.  Iram,  planted  by  King  Shaddad,  and  now  sunk  somewhere  in  the  Sands  of  Arabia. 
Jamshyd’s  Seven-ring’d  Cup  was  typical  of  the  7  Heavens,  7  Planets,  7  Seas,  & c.,  and  was  a 
Divining  Cup. 

6.  Pehlevi,  the  old  Heroic  Sanskrit  of  Persia.  Hafiz  also  speaks  of  the  Nightingale’s  Pchfa'i, 
which  did  not  change  with  the  People’s. 

6.  I  am  not  sure  if  this  refers  to  the  Red  Rose  looking  sickly,  or  the  Yellow  Rose  that  ought 
to  be  Red  ;  Red,  White,  and  Yellow  Roses  all  common  in  Persia.  I  think  Southey,  in  his  Com¬ 
mon-Place  Book,  quotes  from  some  Spanish  author  about  Rose  being  White  till  10  o’clock;  “Rosa 
Perfecta  ”  at  2  ;  and  “  perfecta  incarnada  ”  at  5. 

10.  Rustum,  the  “  Hercules  ”  of  Persia,  and  Zal  his  Father,  whose  exploits  are  among  the 
most  celebrated  in  the  Shah-nama.  Hatim  Tai,  a  well-known  Type  of  Oriental  Generosity. 

13.  A  Drum  —  beaten  outside  a  Palace. 

14.  That  is,  the  Rose’s  Golden  Centre. 

18.  Persepolis  :  call’d  also  Takht'i  Jamshyd — The  Throne  of  Jamshyd,  “  King  Splendid ,” 
of  the  Mythical  Peeshdddian  Dynasty,  and  supposed  (according  to  the  Shah-nama)  to  have  been 


NOTES  ON  THE  TEXT. 


founded  and  built  by  him.  Others  refer  it  to  the  Work  of  the  Genie  King,  Jan  Ibn  Jan  —  who 
also  built  the  Pyramids  —  before  the  time  of  Adam. 

BahrXm  Gtjr  —  Bahr&m  of  the  Wild  Ass  —  a  Sassanian  Sovereign  —  had  also  his  Seven 
Castles  (like  the  King  of  Bohemia !)  each  of  a  different  Colour :  each  with  a  Royal  Mistress 
within ;  each  of  whom  tells  him  a  Story,  as  told  in  one  of  the  most  famous  Poems  of  Persia, 
written  by  Amir  Khusraw :  all  these  Sevens  also  figuring  (according  to  Eastern  Mysticism)  the 
Seven  Heavens  ;  and  perhaps  the  Book  itself  that  Eighth,  into  which  the  mystical  Seven  tran¬ 
scend,  and  within  which  they  revolve.  The  Ruins  of  Three  of  these  Towers  are  yet  shown  by  the 
Peasantry ;  as  also  the  Swamp  in  which  Bahram  sunk,  like  the  Master  of  Ravenswood,  while  pur¬ 
suing  his  Gur. 

The  Palace  that  to  Heav’n  his  pillars.threw, 

And  Kings  the  forehead  on  his  threshold  drew  — 

I  saw  the  solitary  Ringdove  there, 

And  “  Coo,  coo,  coo,”  she  cried  ;  and  “  Coo,  coo,  coo.” 

This  Quatrain  Mr.  Binning  found,  among  several  of  Hafiz  and  others,  inscribed  by  some 
stray  hand  among  the  ruins  of  Persepolis.  The  Ringdove’s  ancient  Pehlevi  Coo,  Coo ,  Coo,  signifies 
also  in  Persian  “  Where  ?  Where  1  Where  1  ”  In  Attar’s  “  Bird-Parliament  ”  she  is  reproved  by 
the  Leader  of  the  Birds  for  sitting  still,  and  for  ever  harping  on  that  one  note  of  lamentation  for 
her  lost  Yusuf. 

Apropos  of  Omar’s  Red  Roses  in  Stanza  xix,  I  am  reminded  of  an  old  English  Superstition, 
that  our  Anemone  Pulsatilla,  or  purple  “  Pasque  Flower  ”  (which  grows  plentifully  about  the 
Fleam  Dyke,  near  Cambridge),  grows  only  where  Danish  blood  has  been  spilt. 

21.  A  thousand  years  to  each  Planet. 

34.  Parwfn  and  Mushtari  —  The  Pleiads  and  Jupiter. 

37.  Saturn,  Lord  of  the  Seventh  Heaven. 

38.  Me-and-Thee  :  some  dividual  Existence  or  Personality  distinct  from  the  Whole. 

43.  One  of  the  Persian  Poets  —  Attar,  I  think  —  has  a  pretty  story  about  this.  A  thirsty 
Traveller  dips  his  hand  into  a  Spring  of  Water  to  drink  from.  By  and  by  comes  another  who 
draws  up  and  drinks  from  an  earthen  Bowl,  and  then  departs,  leaving  his  Bowl  behind  him.  The 
first  Traveller  takes  it  up  for  another  draught ;  but  is  surprised  to  find  that  the  same  Water  which 
had  tasted  sweet  from  his  own  hand  tastes  bitter  from  the  earthen  Bowl.  But  a  Voice  —  from 
Heaven,  I  think  —  tells  him  the  Clay  from  which  the  Bowl  is  made  was  once  Man ;  and,  into 
whatever  shape  renew’d,  can  never  lose  the  bitter  flavour  of  Mortality. 

45.  The  custom  of  throwing  a  little  Wine  on  the  ground  before  drinking  still  continues  in 
Persia,  and  perhaps  generally  in  the  East.  Mons.  Nicolas  considers  it  “un  signe  de  liberalite, 
et  en  meme  temps  un  avertissement  que  le  buveur  doit  vider  sa  coupe  jusqu’il  la  derniere  goutte.” 
Is  it  not  more  likely  an  ancient  Superstition  ;  a  Libation  to  propitiate  Earth,  or  make  her  an  Ac¬ 
complice  in  the  illicit  Revel  ?  Or,  perhaps,  to  divert  the  Jealous  Eye  by  some  sacrifice  of  super¬ 
fluity,  as  with  the  Ancients  of  the  West  ?  With  Omar  we  see  something  more  is  signified  ;  the 
precious  Liquor  is  not  lost,  but  sinks  into  the  ground  to  refresh  the  dust  of  some  poor  Wine- 
worshipper  foregone. 

Thus  Hafiz,  copying  Omar  in  so  many  ways  :  “  When  thou  drinkest  Wine  pour  a  draught  on 
the  ground.  Wherefore  fear  the  Sin  which  brings  to  another  Gain  ?  ” 

49.  According  to  one  beautiful  Oriental  Legend,  Azniel  accomplishes  his  mission  by  holding 
to  the  nostril  an  Apple  from  the  Tree  of  Life. 

This,  and  the  two  following  Stanzas  would  have  been  withdrawn,  as  somewhat  de  trop,  from  the 
Text  but  for  advice  which  I  least  like  to  disregard. 

57.  From  Mah  to  Mahi ;  from  Fish  to  Moon. 

60.  A  Jest,  of  course,  at  his  Studies.  A  curious  mathematical  Quatrain  of  Omar’s  has  been 
pointed  out  to  me  ;  the  more  curious  because  almost  exactly  parallel’d  by  some  Verses  of  Doctor 
Donne’s,  that  are  quoted  in  Izaak  Walton’s  Lives  !  Here  is  Omar  :  “You  and  I  are  the  image  of 


NOTES  ON  THE  TEXT. 


a  pair  of  compasses  ;  though  we  have  two  heads  (sc.  our  feet)  we  have  one  body ;  when  we  have 
fixed  the  centre  for  our  circle,  we  bring  our  heads  (sc.  feet)  together  at  the  end.”  Ur.  Donne:  — 

If  we  be  two,  we  two  are  so 
As  stiff  twin-compasses  are  two  ; 

Thy  Soul,  the  fixt  foot,  makes  no  show 
To  move,  but  does  if  the  other  do. 

And  though  thine  in  the  centre  sit, 

Yet  when  my  other  far  does  roam, 

Thine  leans  and  hearkens  after  it, 

And  grows  erect  as  mine  comes  home. 

Such  thou  must  be  to  me,  who  must 
Like  the  other  foot  obliquely  run  ; 

Thy  firmness  makes  my  circle  just, 

And  me  to  end  where  I  begun. 

63.  The  Seventy-two  Religions  supposed  to  divide  the  World,  including  Islamism,  as  some 
think  :  but  others  not. 

64.  Alluding  to  Sultan  Mahmud’s  Conquest  of  India  and  its  dark  people. 

72.  Fanusi  khiyal. ,  a  Magic-lanthorn  still  used  in  India;  the  cylindrical  Interior  being  painted 
with  various  Figures,  and  so  lightly  poised  and  ventilated  as  to  revolve  round  the  lighted  Candle 
within. 

74.  A  very  mysterious  Line  in  the  Original :  — 

O  ddnad  O  danad  O  danad  O  — 

breaking  off  something  like  our  Wood-pigeon’s  Note,  which  she  is  said  to  take  up  just  where  she 
left  off. 

87.  This  relation  of  Pot  and  Potter  to  Man  and  his  Maker  figures  far  and  wide  in  the  Litera¬ 
ture  of  the  World,  from  the  time  of  the  Hebrew  Prophets  to  the  present ;  when  it  may  finally  take 
the  name  of  “  Pottheism,”  by  which  Mr.  Carlyle  ridiculed  Sterling’s  “  Pantheism.”  My  Sheikh, 
whose  knowledge  flows  in  from  all  quarters,  writes  to  me  — 

“Apropos  of  old  Omar’s  Pots,  did  I  ever  tell  you  the  sentence  I  found  in  ‘  Bishop  Pearson  on 
the  Creed  ’  ?  ”  “  Thus  are  we  wholly  at  the  disposal  of  His  will,  and  our  present  and  future  con¬ 

dition,  framed  and  ordered  by  His  free,  but  wise  and  jwst,  decrees.  ‘  Hath  not  the  potter  power 
over  the  clay ,  of  the  same  lump  to  make  one  vessel  unto  honour ,  and  another  unto  dishonour  ?  ’  (Rom. 
ix.  21.)  And  can  that  earth-artificer  have  a  freer  power  over  his  brother  potsherd  (both  being 
made  of  the  same  metal),  than  God  hath  over  him,  who,  by  the  strange  fecundity  of  His  omnipo¬ 
tent  power,  first  made  the  clay  out  of  nothing,  and  then  him  out  of  that  ?  ” 

And  again  —  from  a  very  different  quarter  —  “I  had  to  refer  the  other  day  to  Aristophanes, 
and  came  by  chance  on  a  curious  Speaking-pot  story  in  the  Vespae,  which  I  had  quite  forgotten. 

QiAokAcuv.  yA nove,  /jl^i  <pevy ’•  eV  2i43apei  yvvf)  ir ore  1.  1435 

Kareal’  exivov. 

Kar riyopos.  T avr'  iyw  /j.aprvpofj.ai. 

$1.  O vx^vos  ovv  txwv  rlv'  eirepapTiiparo- 

E?0’  rj  SufSapms  elirtv,  et  val  rav  nlpav 
t^v  fjapTvpiav  ravTTjv  tanas,  iv  Ta^f  1 
eniSecrpiov  iirplco,  vovv  h.v  irKtiova. 

“  The  Pot  calls  a  bystander  to  be  a  witness  to  his  bad  treatment.  The  woman  says,  ‘  If,  by 
Proserpine,  instead  of  all  this  “  testifying  ”  (comp.  Cuddie  and  his  mother  in  “  Old  Mortality !  ”) 


NOTES  ON  THE  TEXT. 


you  would  buy  yourself  a  trivet,  it  would  show  more  sense  in  you  !  ’  The  Scholiast  explains 
echinus  as  ayyos  ri  ix  xepd/xov.” 

90.  At  the  Close  of  the  Fasting  Month,  Ramazan  (which  makes  the  Musulman  unhealthy  and 
unamiable),  the  first  Glimpse  of  the  New  Moon  (who  rules  their  division  of  the  Year),  is  looked 
for  with  the  utmost  Anxiety,  and  hailed  with  Acclamation.  Then  it  is  that  the  Porter’s  Knot  may 
be  heard  —  toward  the  Cellar.  Omar  has  elsewhere  a  pretty  Quatrain  about  this  same  Moon  — 

“  Be  of  Good  Cheer  —  the  sullen  Month  will  die, 

And  a  young  Moon  requite  us  by  and  by : 

Look  how  the  Old  one  meagre,  bent,  and  wan 
With  Age  and  Fast,  is  fainting  from  the  Sky  !  ” 


APPENDIX. 


\_Reprinted  from  the  Introduction  and  Notes  accompanying  the  Version  of 
Omar  Khayyam  s  Rubaiyat  by  Edward  Fitzgeraldi\ 


OMAR  KHAYYAM, 

THE  ASTRONOMER-POET  OF  PERSIA. 

Omar  KhayyXm  was  born  at  Naishapur  in  Khorassan  in  the  latter  half  of  our  Eleventh, 
and  died  within  the  first  quarter  of  our  Twelfth  Century.  The  slender  Story  of  his  Life 
is  curiously  twined  about  that  of  two  other  very  considerable  Figures  in  their  Time  and 
Country  :  one  of  whom  tells  the  Story  of  all  Three.  This  was  Nizam-ul-Mulk,  Vizier  to 
Alp  Arslan  the  Son,  and  Malik  Shah  the  Grandson,  of  Toghrul  Beg  the  Tartar,  who  had 
wrested  Persia  from  the  feeble  Successor  of  Mahmud  the  Great,  and  founded  that  Sel- 
jukian  Dynasty  which  finally  roused  Europe  into  the  Crusades.  This  Nizam-ul-Mulk, 
in  his  Wasiyat  —  or  Testament  —  which  he  wrote  and  left  as  a  Memorial  for  future  States¬ 
men,  relates  the  following,  as  quoted  in  the  Calcutta  Review,  No.  59,  from  Mirkhond’s 
History  of  the  Assassins  :  — 

“‘One  of  the  greatest  of  the  wise  men  of  Khorassan  was  the  Imam  Mowaffak  of  Naishapur,  a 
man  highly  honoured  and  reverenced,  —  may  God  rejoice  his  soul ;  his  illustrious  years  exceeded 
eighty-five,  and  it  was  the  universal  belief  that  every  boy  who  read  the  Koran  or  studied  the  tra¬ 
ditions  in  his  presence,  would  assuredly  attain  to  honour  and  happiness.  For  this  cause  did  my 
father  send  me  from  Tus  to  Naishapur  with  Abd-us-samad,  the  doctor  of  law,  that  I  might  employ 
myself  in  study  and  learning  under  the  guidance  of  that  illustrious  teacher.  Towards  me  he 
ever  turned  an  eye  of  favour  and  kindness,  and  as  his  pupil  I  felt  for  him  extreme  affection  and 
devotion,  so  that  I  passed  four  years  in  his  service.  When  I  first  came  there,  I  found  two  other 
pupils  of  mine  own  age  newly  arrived,  Hakim  Omar  Khayyam,  and  the  ill-fated  Ben  Sabbah. 
Both  were  endowed  with  sharpness  of  wit  and  the  highest  natural  powers  ;  and  we  three  formed  a 
close  friendship  together.  When  the  Imam  rose  from  his  lectures,  they  used  to  join  me,  and  we 
repeated  to  each  other  the  lessons  we  had  heard.  Now  Omar  was  a  native  of  Naishapur,  while 
Hasan  Ben  Sabbah’s  father  was  one  Ali,  a  man  of  austere  life  and  practice,  but  heretical  in  his 
creed  and  doctrine.  One  day  Hasan  said  to  me  and  to  Khayyam,  “It  is  a  universal  belief  that  the 
pupils  of  the  Imam  Mowaffak  will  attain  to  fortune.  Now,  even  if  we  all  do  not  attain  thereto, 
without  doubt  one  of  us  will  ;  what  then  shall  be  our  mutual  pledge  and  bond  ?”  We  answered, 
“  Be  it  what  you  please.”  “  Well,”  he  said,  “  let  us  make  a  vow,  that  to  whomsoever  this  fortune 
falls,  he  shall  share  it  equally  with  the  rest,  and  reserve  no  pre-eminence  for  himself.”  “  Be  it  so,” 
we  both  replied,  and  on  those  terms  we  mutually  pledged  our  words.  Years  rolled  on,  and  I  went 
from  Khorassan  to  Transoxiana,  and  wandered  to  Ghazni  and  Cabul ;  and  when  I  returned,  I  was 


OMAR  KHAYYAM. 


invested  with  office,  and  rose  to  be  administrator  of  affairs  during  the  Sultanate  of  Sultan  Alp 
Arslan.’ 

“  He  goes  on  to  state,  that  years  passed  by,  and  both  his  old  school-friends  found  him  out,  and 
came  and  claimed  a  share  in  his  good  fortune,  according  to  the  school-day  vow.  The  Vizier  was 
generous  and  kept  his  word.  Hasan  demanded  a  place  in  the  government,  which  the  Sultan 
granted  at  the  Vizier’s  request  ;  but  discontented  with  a  gradual  rise,  he  plunged  into  the  maze  of 
intrigue  of  an  oriental  court,  and,  failing  in  a  base  attempt  to  supplant  his  benefactor,  he  was  dis¬ 
graced  and  fell.  After  many  mishaps  and  wanderings,  Hasan  became  the  head  of  the  Persian  sect 
of  the  Ismailians,  a  party  of  fanatics  who  had  long  murmured  in  obscurity,  but  rose  to  an  evil 
eminence  under  the  guidance  of  his  strong  and  evil  will.  In  a.  d.  1090,  he  seized  the  castle  of 
Alamut,  in  the  province  of  Rudbar,  which  lies  in  the  mountainous  tract  south  of  the  Caspian 
Sea  ;  and  it  was  from  this  mountain  home  he  obtained  that  evil  celebrity  among  the  Crusaders  as 
the  OLD  MAN  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS,  and  spread  terror  through  the  Mohammedan  world  ; 
and  it  is  yet  disputed  whether  the  word  Assassin,  which  they  have  left  in  the  language  of  modern 
Europe  as  their  dark  memorial,  is  derived  from  the  hashish,  or  opiate  of  hemp-leaves  (the  In¬ 
dian  bhang),  with  which  they  maddened  themselves  to  the  sullen  pitch  of  oriental  desperation, 
or  from  the  name  of  the  founder  of  the  dynasty,  whom  we  have  seen  in  his  quiet  collegiate  days, 
at  Naishapur.  One  of  the  countless  victims  of  the  Assassin’s  dagger  was  Nizam-ul-Mulk  himself, 
the  old  school-boy  friend.1 

“  Omar  Khayyam  also  came  to  the  Vizier  to  claim  the  share  ;  but  not  to  ask  for  title  or  office. 

‘  The  greatest  boon  you  can  confer  on  me,’  he  said,  ‘  is  to  let  me  live  in  a  corner  under  the  shadow 
of  your  fortune,  to  spread  wide  the  advantages  of  Science,  and  pray  for  your  long  life  and  pros¬ 
perity.’  The  Vizier  tells  us,  that,  when  he  found  Omar  was  really  sincere  in  his  refusal,  he  pressed 
him  no  further,  but  granted  him  a  yearly  pension  of  twelve  hundred  mithkdls  of  gold,  from  the 
treasury  of  Naishapur. 

“  At  Naishapur  thus  lived  and  died  Omar  Khayyam,  ‘busied,’  adds  the  Vizier,  ‘in  winning  knowl¬ 
edge  of  every  kind,  and  especially  in  Astronomy,  wherein  he  attained  to  a  very  high  pre-eminence. 
Under  the  Sultanate  of  Malik  Shah,  he  came  to  Merv,  and  obtained  great  praise  for  his  proficiency 
in  Science,  and  the  Sultan  showered  favours  upon  him.’ 

“  When  Malik  Shah  determined  to  reform  the  calendar,  Omar  was  one  of  the  eight  learned  men 
employed  to  do  it ;  the  result  was  the  Jalali  era  (so  called  from  Jalal-u-din,  one  of  the  king’s  names) 
—  ‘a  computation  of  time,’  says  Gibbon,  ‘which  surpasses  the  Julian,  and  approaches  the  accuracy 
of  the  Gregorian  style.’  He  is  also  the  author  of  some  astronomical  tables,  entitled  Zfji-Malikshahf, 
and  the  French  have  lately  republished  and  translated  an  Arabic  Treatise  of  his  on  Algebra. 

“  His  Takhallus  or  poetical  name  (Khayyam)  signifies  a  Tentmaker,  and  he  is  said  to  have  at 
one  time  exercised  that  trade,  perhaps  before  Nizam-ul-Mulk’s  generosity  raised  him  to  independ¬ 
ence.  Many  Persian  poets  similarly  derive  their  names  from  their  occupations  ;  thus  we  have 
Attar,  ‘a  druggist,’  Assar,  ‘an  oil  presser,’  &c.2  Omar  himself  alludes  to  his  name  in  the  following 
whimsical  lines  :  — 

‘  Khayyam,  who  stitched  the  tents  of  science, 

Has  fallen  in  grief’s  furnace  and  been  suddenly  burned; 

The  shears  of  Fate  have  cut  the  tent  ropes  of  his  life, 

And  the  broker  of  Hope  has  sold  him  for  nothing  !  ’ 


“We  have  only  one  more  anecdote  to  give  of  his  Life,  and  that  relates  to  the  close  ;  it  is  told  in 
the  anonymous  preface  which  is  sometimes  prefixed  to  his  poems  ;  it  has  been  printed  in  the  Per¬ 
sian  in  the  appendix  to  Hyde’s  Veterujfi  PersaruTn  Religio,  p.  499  ;  and  D’Herbelot  alludes  to  it  in 


his  Bibliothhque,  under  Khiam  .- 8 — 

1  Some  of  Omar’s  Rubaiyat  warn  us  of  the  danger  of 
Greatness,  the  instability  of  Fortune,  and  while  advocat¬ 
ing  Charity  to  all  Men,  recommending  us  to  be  too  inti¬ 
mate  with  none.  Attar  makes  Nizdm-ul-Mulk  use  the 
very  words  of  his  friend  Omar  [Rub.  xxviii.],  “  When 
Niz&m-ul-Muik  was  in  the  agony  (of  Death)  he  said,  ‘O 
God  I  I  am  passing  away  in  the  hand  of  the  Wind.’  ” 


2  Though  all  these,  like  our  Smiths,  Archers,  Millers, 
Fletchers,  &c.,  may  simply  retain  the  Surname  of  an 
hereditary  calling. 

8  “  Philosophe  Musulman  qui  a  vecu  en  Odeur  de 
Saintete  dans  la  Fin  du  premier  et  le  Commencement 
du  second  Si£cle,”  no  part  of  which,  except  the  “  Phi¬ 
losophe,”  can  apply  to  our  Khayyam. 


OMAR  KHAYYAM. 


“  ‘  It  is  written  in  the  chronicles  of  the  ancients  that  this  King  of  the  Wise,  Omar  Khayyam,  died 
at  Naishapur  in  the  year  of  the  Hegira,  517  (a.  d.  1123);  in  science  he  was  unrivalled,  —  the  very 
paragon  of  his  age.’  Khwajah  Nizami  of  Samarcand,  who  was  one  of  his  pupils,  relates  the  fol¬ 
lowing  story :  ‘  I  often  used  to  hold  conversations  with  my  teacher,  Omar  Khayyam,  in  a  garden  ; 
and  one  day  he  said  to  me,  “  My  tomb  shall  be  in  a  spot  where  the  north  wind  may  scatter  roses 
over  it.”  I  wondered  at  the  words  he  spake,  but  I  knew  that  his  were  no  idle  words.1  Years  after, 
when  I  chanced  to  revisit  Naishapur,  I  went  to  his  final  resting-place,  and  lo  !  it  was  just  outside  a 
garden,  and  trees  laden  with  fruit  stretched  their  boughs  over  the  garden  wall,  and  dropped  their 
flowers  upon  his  tomb,  so  as  the  stone  was  hidden  under  them.’  ” 

Thus  far,  without  fear  of  Trespass,  from  the  Calcutta  Review.  The  writer  of  it,  on 
reading  in  India  this  story  of  Omar’s  Grave,  was  reminded,  he  says,  of  Cicero’s  Account 
of  finding  Archimedes’  Tomb  at  Syracuse,  buried  in  grass  and  weeds.  I  think  Thorwald- 
sen  desired  to  have  roses  grow  over  him  ;  a  wish  religiously  fulfilled  for  him  to  the  present 
day,  I  believe.  However,  to  return  to  Omar. 

Though  the  Sultan  “shower’d  Favors  upon  him,”  Omar’s  Epicurean  Audacity  of 
Thought  and  Speech  caused  him  to  be  regarded  askance  in  his  own  Time  and  Country. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  especially  hated  and  dreaded  by  the  Sufis,  whose  Practice  he  ridi¬ 
culed,  and  whose  Faith  amounts  to  little  more  than  his  own  when  stript  of  the  Mysticism 
and  formal  recognition  of  Islamism  under  which  Omar  would  not  hide.  Their  Poets,  in¬ 
cluding  Hafiz,  who  are  (with  the  exception  of  Firdausi)  the  most  considerable  in  Persia, 
borrowed  largely,  indeed,  of  Omar’s  material,  but  turning  it  to  a  mystical  Use  more  con¬ 
venient  to  Themselves  and  the  People  they  addressed  ;  a  People  quite  as  quick  of  Doubt 
as  of  belief ;  as  keen  of  Bodily  Sense  as  of  Intellectual ;  and  delighting  in  a  cloudy  com¬ 
position  of  both,  in  which  they  could  float  luxuriously  between  Heaven  and  Earth,  and  this 
World  and  the  Next,  on  the  wings  of  a  poetical  expression,  that  might  serve  indifferently 
for  either.  Omar  was  too  honest  of  Heart  as  well  as  of  Head  for  this.  Having  failed 
(however  mistakenly)  of  finding  any  Providence  but  Destiny,  and  any  World  but  This,  he 
set  about  making  the  most  of  it ;  preferring  rather  to  soothe  the  Soul  through  the  Senses 
into  Acquiescence  with  Things  as  he  saw  them,  than  to  perplex  it  with  vain  disquietude 
after  what  they  might  be.  It  has  been  seen,  however,  that  his  Worldly  Ambition  was  not 
exorbitant ;  and  he  very  likely  takes  a  humorous  or  perverse  pleasure  in  exalting  the  grati¬ 
fication  of  Sense  above  that  of  the  Intellect,  in  which  he  must  have  taken  great  delight, 
although  it  failed  to  answer  the  Questions  in  which  he,  in  common  with  all  men,  was  most 
vitally  interested. 

For  whatever  reason,  however,  Omar,  as  before  said,  has  never  been  popular  in  his  own 
Country,  and  therefore  has  been  but  scantily  transmitted  abroad.  The  MSS.  of  his  Poems, 
mutilated  beyond  the  average  Casualties  of  Oriental  Transcription,  are  so  rare  in  the 
East  as  scarce  to  have  reached  Westward  at  all,  in  spite  of  all  the  acquisitions  of  Arms 
and  Science.  There  is  no  copy  at  the  India  House,  none  at  the  Bibliotheque  Imperiale  of 
Paris.  We  know  of  but  one  in  England:  No.  140  of  the  Ouseley  MSS.  at  the  Bodleian, 


1  The  Rashness  of  the  Words,  according  to  DTIerbelot, 
consisted  in  being  so  opposed  to  those  in  the  Koran :  “No 
Man  knows  where  he  shall  die.”  —  This  Story  of  Omar 
reminds  me  of  another  so  naturally  —  and,  when  one  re¬ 
members  how  wide  of  his  humble  mark  the  noble  sailor 
aimed  —  so  pathetically  told  by  Captain  Cook — not  by 
Doctor  Hawkesworth  —  in  his  Second  Voyage.  When 
leaving  Ulietea,  “  Oreo’s  last  request  was  for  me  to  return. 
When  he  saw  he  could  not  obtain  that  promise,  he  asked 
the  name  of  my  Maraia  —  Burying-place.  As  strange  a 


question  as  this  was,  I  hesitated  not  a  moment  to  tell  him 
‘  Stepney,’  the  parish  in  which  I  live  when  in  London.  I 
was  made  to  repeat  it  several  times  till  they  could  pro¬ 
nounce  it;  and  then  ‘Stepney  Marai  no  Tootee’  was 
echoed  through  a  hundred  mouths  at  once.  I  afterwards 
found  the  same  question  had  been  put  to  Mr.  Forster  by 
a  man  on  shore ;  but  he  gave  a  different,  and  indeed  more 
proper  answer,  by  saying,  ‘No  Man  who  used  the  sea 
could  say  where  he  should  be  buried.’  ” 


OMAR  KHAYYAM. 


written  at  Shiraz,  A.  d.  1460.  This  contains  but  158  Rubaiyat.  One  in  the  Asiatic  So¬ 
ciety’s  Library  at  Calcutta  (of  which  we  have  a  Copy),  contains  (and  yet  incomplete)  516, 
though  swelled  to  that  by  all  kinds  of  Repetition  and  Corruption.  So  Von  Hammer  speaks 
of  his  Copy  as  containing  about  200,  while  Dr.  Sprenger  catalogues  the  Lucknow  MS.  at 
double  that  number.1  The  Scribes,  too,  of  the  Oxford  and  Calcutta  MSS.  seem  to  do  their 
Work  under  a  sort  of  Protest ;  each  beginning  with  a  Tetrastich  (whether  genuine  or  not), 
taken  out  of  its  alphabetical  order ;  the  Oxford  with  one  of  Apology  ;  the  Calcutta  with 
one  of  Expostulation,  supposed  (says  a  Notice  prefixed  to  the  MS.)  to  have  risen  from  a 
Dream,  in  which  Omar’s  mother  asked  about  his  future  fate.  It  may  be  rendered  thus  :  — 

“  O  Thou  who  burn’st  in  Heart  for  those  who  burn 
In  Hell,  whose  fires  thyself  shall  feed  in  turn  ; 

How  long  be  crying,  ‘  Mercy  on  them,  God !  ’ 

Why,  who  art  Thou  to  teach,  and  He  to  learn  ?  ” 

The  Bodleian  Quatrain  pleads  Pantheism  by  way  of  Justification  :  — 

“  If  I  myself  upon  a  looser  Creed 
Have  loosely  strung  the  Jewel  of  Good  deed, 

Let  this  one  thing  for  my  Atonement  plead : 

That  One  for  Two  I  never  did  mis-read.” 

The  Reviewer,  to  whom  I  owe  the  Particulars  of  Omar’s  Life,  concludes  his  Review  by 
comparing  him  with  Lucretius,  both  as  to  natural  Temper  and  Genius,  and  as  acted  upon 
by  the  Circumstances  in  which  he  lived.  Both  indeed  were  men  of  subtle,  strong,  and 
cultivated  Intellect,  fine  Imagination,  and  Hearts  passionate  for  Truth  and  Justice  ;  who 
justly  revolted  from  their  Country’s  false  Religion,  and  false,  or  foolish,  Devotion  to  it ; 
but  who  yet  fell  short  of  replacing  what  they  subverted  by  such  better  Hope  as  others, 
with  no  better  Revelation  to  guide  them,  had  yet  made  a  Law  to  themselves.  Lucretius, 
indeed,  with  such  material  as  Epicurus  furnished,  satisfied  himself  with  the  theory  of  so 
vast  a  machine  fortuitously  constructed,  and  acting  by  a  Law  that  implied  no  Legislator  ; 
and  so  composing  himself  into  a  Stoical  rather  than  Epicurean  severity  of  Attitude,  sat 
down  to  contemplate  the  mechanical  Drama  of  the  Universe  which  he  was  part  Actor  in  ; 
himself  and  all  about  him  (as  in  his  own  sublime  description  of  the  Roman  Theatre)  dis¬ 
coloured  with  the  lurid  reflex  of  the  Curtain  suspended  between  the  Spectator  and  the 
Sun.  Omar,  more  desperate,  or  more  careless  of  any  so  complicated  System  as  resulted 
in  nothing  but  hopeless  Necessity,  flung  his  own  Genius  and  Learning  with  a  bitter  or 
humorous  jest  into  the  general  Ruin  which  their  insufficient  glimpses  only  served  to  re¬ 
veal  ;  and,  pretending  sensual  pleasure  as  the  serious  purpose  of  Life,  only  diverted  him¬ 
self  with  speculative  problems  of  Deity,  Destiny,  Matter  and  Spirit,  Good  and  Evil,  and 
other  such  questions,  easier  to  start  than  to  run  down,  and  the  pursuit  of  which  becomes 
a  very  weary  sport  at  last ! 

With  regard  to  the  present  Translation.  The  original  Rubaiyat  (as,  missing  an  Arabic 
Guttural,  these  Tetrastichs  are  more  musically  called)  are  independent  Stanzas,  consisting 
each  of  four  Lines  of  equal,  though  varied  Prosody  ;  sometimes  all  rhyming,  but  oftener 
(as  here  imitated)  the  third  line  a  blank.  Something  as  in  the  Greek  Alcaic,  where  the 
penultimate  line  seems  to  lift  and  suspend  the  Wave  that  falls  over  in  the  last.  As  usual 
with  such  kind  of  Oriental  Verse,  the  Rubaiyat  follow  one  another  according  to  Alpha¬ 
betic  Rhyme  —  a  strange  succession  of  Grave  and  Gay.  Those  here  selected  are  strung 

1  “Since  this  Paper  was  written  (adds  the  Reviewer  in  with  an  Appendix  containing  54  others  not  found  in  some 
a  note),  we  have  met  with  a  Copy  of  a  very  rare  Edition,  MSS.” 
printed  at  Calcutta  in  1836.  This  contains  438  Tetrastichs, 


OMAR  KHAYYAM. 


into  something  of  an  Eclogue,  with  perhaps  a  less  than  equal  proportion  of  the  “  Drink 
and  make  merry,”  which  (genuine  or  not)  recurs  over  frequently  in  the  Original.  Either 
way,  the  result  is  sad  enough  :  saddest  perhaps  when  most  ostentatiously  merry  :  more 
apt  to  move  Sorrow  than  Anger  toward  the  old  Tentmaker,  who,  after  vainly  endeavouring 
to  unshackle  his  Steps  from  Destiny,  and  to  catch  some  authentic  Glimpse  of  Tomorrow, 
fell  back  upon  Today  (which  has  outlasted  so  many  Tomorrows  !)  as  the  only  Ground  he 
got  to  stand  upon,  however  momentarily  slipping  from  under  his  Feet. 


While  the  second  Edition  of  this  version  of  Omar  was  preparing,  Monsieur  Nicolas, 
French  Consul  at  Resht,  published  a  very  careful  and  very  good  Edition  of  the  Text,  from 
a  lithograph  copy  at  Teheran,  comprising  464  Rubaiyat,  with  translation  and  notes  of  his 
own. 

Mons.  Nicolas,  whose  Edition  has  reminded  me  of  several  things,  and  instructed  me  in 
others,  does  not  consider  Omar  to  be  the  material  Epicurean  that  I  have  literally  taken 
him  for,  but  a  Mystic,  shadowing  the  Deity  under  the  figure  of  Wine,  Wine-bearer,  &c.,  as 
Hafiz  is  supposed  to  do  ;  in  short,  a  Sufi  Poet  like  Hafiz  and  the  rest. 

I  cannot  see  reason  to  alter  my  opinion,  formed  as  it  was  more  than  a  dozen  years  ago, 
when  Omar  was  first  shown  me  by  one  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  all  I  know  of  Oriental, 
and  very  much  of  other  literature.  He  admired  Omar’s  Genius  so  much,  that  he  would 
gladly  have  adopted  any  such  Interpretation  of  his  meaning  as  Mons.  Nicolas’  if  he  could.1 
That  he  could  not  appears  by  his  Paper  in  the  Calcutta  Review,  already  so  largely  quoted  ; 
in  which  he  argues  from  the  Poems  themselves,  as  well  as  from  what  records  remain  of 
the  Poet’s  Life. 

And  if  more  were  needed  to  disprove  Mons.  Nicolas’  Theory,  there  is  the  Biographical 
Notice  which  he  himself  has  drawn  up  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  Interpretation  of  the 
Poems  given  in  his  Notes.  (See  pp.  13,  14  of  his  Preface.)  Indeed  I  hardly  knew  poor 
Omar  was  so  far  gone  till  his  Apologist  informed  me.  For  here  we  see  that,  whatever 
were  the  Wine  that  Hafiz  drank  and  sang,  the  veritable  Juice  of  the  Grape  it  was  which 
Omar  used,  not  only  when  carousing  with  his  friends,  but  (says  Mons.  Nicolas)  in  order  to 
excite  himself  to  that  pitch  of  Devotion  which  others  reached  by  cries  and  “hurlemens.” 
And  yet,  whenever  Wine,  Wine-bearer,  &c.,  occur  in  the  Text  —  which  is  often  enough  — 
Mons.  Nicolas  carefully  annotates  “Dieu,”  “La  Divinite,”  &c. :  so  carefully  indeed  that 
one  is  tempted  to  think  that  he  was  indoctrinated  by  the  Sufi  with  whom  he  read  the 
Poems.  (Note  to  Rub.  ii.  p.  8.)  A  Persian  would  naturally  wish  to  vindicate  a  distin¬ 
guished  Countryman  ;  and  a  Sufi  to  enrol  him  in  his  own  sect,  which  already  comprises 
all  the  chief  Poets  of  Persia. 

What  historical  Authority  has  Mons.  Nicolas  to  show  that  Omar  gave  himself  up  “avec 
passion  a  l’etude  de  la  philosophic  des  Soufis”?  (Preface,  p.  xiii.)  The  Doctrines  of  Pan¬ 
theism,  Materialism,  Necessity,  &c.,  were  not  peculiar  to  the  Sufi;  nor  to  Lucretius  before 
them  ;  nor  to  Epicurus  before  him;  probably  the  very  original  Irreligion  of  Thinking  men 
from  the  first ;  and  very  likely  to  be  the  spontaneous  growth  of  a  Philosopher  living  in  an 
Age  of  social  and  political  barbarism,  under  shadow  of  one  of  the  Two  and  Seventy  Re¬ 
ligions  supposed  to  divide  the  world.  Von  Hammer  (according  to  Sprenger’s  Oriental 
Catalogue)  speaks  of  Omar  as  “a  Free-thinker,  and  a  great  opponent  of  Sufism  perhaps 

1  Perhaps  would  have  edited  the  Poems  himself  some  years  ago.  He  may  now  as  little  approve  of  my  Version 
on  one  side,  as  of  Mons.  Nicolas’  Theory  on  the  other. 


OMAR  KHA  YYAM. 


because,  while  holding  much  of  their  Doctrine,  he  would  not  pretend  to  any  inconsistent 
severity  of  morals.  Sir  W.  Ouseley  has  written  a  Note  to  something  of  the  same  effect 
on  the  fly-leaf  of  the  Bodleian  MS.  And  in  two  Rubaiyat  of  Mons.  Nicolas’  own  Edition, 
Suf  and  Sufi  are  both  disparagingly  named. 

No  doubt  many  of  these  Quatrains  seem  unaccountable  unless  mystically  interpreted  ; 
but  many  more  as  unaccountable  unless  literally.  Were  the  Wine  spiritual,  for  instance, 
how  wash  the  Body  with  it  when  dead  ?  Why  make  cups  of  the  dead  clay  to  be  filled  with 
—  “  La  Divinite  ” —  by  some  succeeding  Mystic?  Mons.  Nicolas  himself  is  puzzled  by 
some  “  bizarres  ”  and  “trop  orientales”  allusions  and  images  —  “d’une  sensualit6  quel- 
quefois  revoltante,”  indeed  —  which  “  les  convenances  ”  do  not  permit  him  to  translate  ; 
but  still  which  the  reader  cannot  but  refer  to  “  La  Divinite.” 1  No  doubt  also  many  of  the 
Quatrains  in  the  Teheran,  as  in  the  Calcutta  Copies,  are  spurious  ;  such  Rubaiyat  being 
the  common  form  of  Epigram  in  Persia.  But  this,  at  best,  tells  as  much  one  way  as 
another  ;  nay,  the  Sufi,  who  may  be  considered  the  Scholar  and  Man  of  Letters  in  Persia, 
would  be  far  more  likely  than  the  careless  Epicure  to  interpolate  what  favours  his  own  view 
of  the  Poet.  I  observe  that  very  few  of  the  more  mystical  Quatrains  are  in  the  Bodleian 
MS.,  which  must  be  one  of  the  oldest,  as  dated  at  Shiraz,  a.  h.  865,  a.  d.  1460.  And  this, 
I  think,  especially  distinguishes  Omar  (I  cannot  help  calling  him  by  his  —  no,  not  Chris¬ 
tian  —  familiar  name)  from  all  other  Persian  Poets  :  That,  whereas  with  them  the  Poet  is 
lost  in  his  Song,  the  Man  in  Allegory  and  Abstraction  ;  we  seem  to  have  the  Man  —  the 
Bonhomme — Omar  himself,  with  all  his  Humors  and  Passions,  as  frankly  before  us  as  if 
we  were  really  at  Table  with  him,  after  the  Wine  had  gone  round. 

I  must  say  that  I,  for  one,  never  wholly  believed  in  the  Mysticism  of  Hafiz.  It  does  not 
appear  there  was  any  danger  in  holding  and  singing  Sufi  Pantheism,  so  long  as  the  Poet 
made  his  Salaam  to  Mohammed  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  his  Song.  Under  such  con¬ 
ditions  Jelaluddin,  Jami,  Attar,  and  others  sang;  using  Wine  and  Beauty  indeed  as  Im¬ 
ages  to  illustrate,  not  as  a  Mask  to  hide,  the  Divinity  they  were  celebrating.  Perhaps 
some  Allegory  less  liable  to  mistake  or  abuse  had  been  better  among  so  inflammable  a 
People:  much  more  so  when,  as  some  think  with  Hafiz  and  Omar,  the  abstract  is  not  only 
likened  to,  but  identified  with,  the  sensual  Image  ;  hazardous,  if  not  to  the  Devotee  him¬ 
self,  yet  to  his  weaker  Brethren ;  and  worse  for  the  Profane  in  proportion  as  the  Devotion 
of  the  Initiated  grew  warmer.  And  all  for  what  ?  To  be  tantalized  with  Images  of  sen¬ 
sual  enjoyment  which  must  be  renounced  if  one  would  approximate  a  God,  who,  according 
to  the  Doctrine,  is  Sensual  Matter  as  well  as  Spirit,  and  into  whose  Universe  one  expects 
unconsciously  to  merge  after  Death,  without  hope  of  any  posthumous  Beatitude  in  another 
world  to  compensate  for  all  one’s  self-denial  in  this.  Lucretius’  blind  Divinity  certainly 
merited,  and  probably  got,  as  much  self-sacrifice  as  this  of  the  Sufi  ;  and  the  burden  of 
Omar’s  Song,  if  not  “Let  us  eat,”  is  assuredly  “Let  us  drink,  for  Tomorrow  we  die  ! ” 
And  if  Hafiz  meant  quite  otherwise  by  a  similar  language,  he  surely  miscalculated  when 
he  devoted  his  life  and  Genius  to  so  equivocal  a  Psalmody  as,  from  his  Day  to  this,  has 
been  said  and  sung  by  any  rather  than  spiritual  Worshippers. 

However,  as  there  is  some  traditional  presumption,  and  certainly  the  opinion  of  some 

1  A  Note  to  Quatrain  234  admits  that,  however  clear  the  pensees  sur  l’amour  divin,  et  a  la  singularity  dcs  images 
mystical  meaning  of  such  Images  must  be  to  Europeans,  trop  orientales,  d’une  sensualite  quelquefois  revoltante, 
they  are  not  quoted  without  “rougissant  ”  even  by  lay-  n’auront  pas  de  peine  k  se  persuader  qu’il  s’agit  de  la 
men  in  Persia  —  “Quant  aux  termes  de  tendresse  qui  com-  Divinite,  bien  que  cette  conviction  soit  vivement  discutee 
mcncent  ce  quatrain,  comme  tant  d’autres  dans  ce  recueil,  par  les  moullahs  musulmans,  et  meme  par  beaucoup  de 
nos  lccteurs,  habitues  maintenant  k  l’etrangete  des  expres-  laiques,  qui  rougissent  veritablement  d’une  pareille  licence 
sions  si  souvent  employes  par  Kheyam  pour  rendre  ses  de  leur  compatriote  a  l’egard  des  choses  spirit uelles.” 


OMAR  KHAYYAM. 


learned  men,  in  favour  of  Omar’s  being  a  Sufi,  —  and  even  something  of  a  Saint,  —  those 
who  please  may  so  interpret  his  Wine  and  Cup-bearer.  On  the  other  hand,  as  there  is  far 
more  historical  certainty  of  his  being  a  Philosopher,  of  scientific  Insight  and  Ability  far 
beyond  that  of  the  Age  and  Country  he  lived  in  ;  of  such  moderate  worldly  Ambition  as 
becomes  a  Philosopher,  and  such  moderate  wants  as  rarely  satisfy  a  Debauchee ;  other 
readers  may  be  content  to  believe  with  me  that,  while  the  Wine  Omar  celebrates  is  simply 
the  Juice  of  the  Grape,  he  bragg’d  more  than  he  drank  of  it,  in  very  Defiance  perhaps  of 
that  Spiritual  Wine  which  left  its  Votaries  sunk  in  Hypocrisy  or  Disgust 


THE  NEW  YORK  TIMES,  SUNDAY,  APRIL  12,  1914 


* 


111 


it; 


;  B 

< 

‘in 


iji! 


HI 


J ! 


This  Handwriting:  by  Yacut  Cost  $>250  a  line,  and  the  Old  Persian  Anthology  in  Which  the  Omar  Quatrains  These  Are  Verses  by  Omar,  Recently  Discovered. 

Whole  Volume  Cost  $60,000.  Were  Found. 


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AN  ENGLISH  CRITIC  ON  MR.  LE  GALLI- 
ENNE’S  “OMAR  KHAYYAM." 


THE  IMPERTINENCE  OF  A  “WILD  ASS’ 
SONABLE  SUGGESTION. 


-A  REA- 


From  The  Saturday  Review. 

It  is  difficult  to  enter  into  the  mental  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  perpetrator  of  this  impertinence  to  a 
great  English  writer.  To  understand  what  Mr. 
Le  Oailienne  has  dared  to  do,  the  reader  must 
be  reminded  of  one  or  two  facts.  About  the 
year  1853  Edward  FitzGerald,  under  the  di¬ 
rection  of  Professor  Cowell,  began  to  study  Per¬ 
sian,  and  after  some  experiments  with  Hafiz 
and  Jami  and  the  “Mantic”  of  Attar  he  settled 
down  to  “that  remarkable  little  fellow,"  Omar 
Khayy&m.  The  “RubaiyAt”  were  not  great 
poetry;  FitzGerald  even  deprecated  Professor 
Cowell’s  scorn  of  him  for  stooping  to  the  second  ( 
rate.  But  there  was  something  in  the  spirit  of  ! 
these  verses  which  soothed  FilzGerald;  “Omar 
breathes  a  sort  of  consolation  over  me.”  In 
1857  he  was  “sketching”  versions,  first  in  Latin, 
then  in  English;  presently  he  invented  a  stan- 
zaic  form  analogous  to  the  tetrastich  of  the 
original;  in  1859  he  put  forth,  anonymously, 
that  translation  of  the  astronomer-poet  which 
ranks  as  a  masterpiece  of  English  poetry  and  as 
one  of  the  treasures  of  tfre  Yrictorian  age. 

This  “translation”  of  FitzGerald’s  is  prac¬ 
tically  an  original  work.  By  the  universal  ver-/ 
diet  of  Orientalists  it  vastly  surpasses  its  orig-  i 
inal  in  poetical  merit.  “Many  quatrains,”  as  Fitz-  J 
Gerald  said,  “are  mashed  together”;  many  morq 
are  simply  invented  by  the  exquisite  English  I 
poet  who  decked  the  dry  bones  of  Omar  Khay¬ 
yam  with  the  flesh  of  his  genius.  The  form,  the 
spirit,  the  lovely  originality  of.  the  whole  thing, 
are  FitzGerald’s,  just  as  the  credit  of  “Hamlet” 
belongs  to  Shakespeare,  and  not  to  some  pos¬ 
sible  precursor;  the  credit  of  “The  Ancient 
Mariner”  to  Coleridge  and  not  to  that  obscure 
Shelvocke  from  whom  he  took  the  tale.  For 
nearly  forty  years,  under  the  mantle  of  Omar 
Khayy&m,  Edward  FitzGerald’s  original  poem 
has  been  moving  among  us,  gradually  filling 
the  air  with  its  delicious  fragrance,  gradually 
winning  the  praise  which  is  due  to  a  consum¬ 
mate  thing  done  once  for  all  in  absolute  perfec¬ 
tion. 

What,  then,  is  to  be  concluded  about  the  men¬ 
tal  condition  of  Mr.  Richard  Le  Gallienne,  a 
sentimental  journalist,  author  of  “If  I  Were 
God,”  who  dances  forward  and  jauntily  pro¬ 
poses  to  rewrite  this  perfect  poem  of  FitzGer¬ 
ald’s  and  improve  it?  He  knows  Persian,  of 
lourse,  and  will  at  least  come  closer  to  the  orig- 
nal?  By  no  means;  on  his  own  showing  Mr.  Le 
Gallienne  does  not  know  one  word  of  Persian 
tie  has  invented  a  metre  more  appropriate  to 
;he  spirit  of  the  tetrastich?  Not  at  all;  he  can 
form  no  opinion  as  to  that  spirit,  for  he  can 
neither  spell  nor  scan  the  words  of  Omar;  he 
iccepts,  without  modification,  the  metre  invent- 
;d  by  FitzGerald.  He  will,  at  least,  correct  the 
sentiment  of  the  English  poet  when  it  fails  to 
•epresent  the  thought  of  the  original?  Certainly 
rot,  for  Mr.  Le  Gallienne  boasts  as  absolute  an 
gnorance  of  the  philosophy  as  of  the  language 
)f  Persia.  What,  then,  does  Mr.  Le  Gallienne 
>ffer  to  us?  What  does  he  propose  to  do?  We 
:an  discover  no  aim  whatever,  except  the  prop- 
>sition  to  rewrite  Edward  FitzGerald’s  poem 
ind  improve  it  as  poetry! 

Let  ps  see  how  Mr.  Le  Gallienne  succeeds  in 
his  bold  and  perilous  enterprise.  With  nothing  I 
n  the  Persian  to  support  him,  in  a  mere  Hash  j 
>f  his  own  unaided  genius,  FitzGerald  inven 
his: 

‘Awake!  for  Morning  in  the  Bowl  of  Night 
las  flung  the  Stone  that  puts  the  Stars 
Flight: 

And  Lo!  the  Hunter  of  the  East  has  caug? 
fhe  Sultan’s  Turret  in  a  Noose  of  Light.” 


DR.  WILLIAM  ALOIS  WRIGHT. 
(From  a  photograph.) 


This  is  “improved"  by  Mr.  Le  Gallienne  as  fol- 
ows: 

‘Wake!  for  the  sun,  the  shepherd  of  the  sky, 
las  penned  the  stars  within  their  fold  on  high. 
And.  shaking  darkness  from  his  mighty  limbs, 
Scatters  the  daylight  from  his  burning  eye.” 

Again,  FitzGerald  writes: 

They  say  the  Lion  and  the  Lizard  keep 
'he  Courts  where  Jamshyd  gloried  and  drank 
deep; 

And  Bahr&m,  that  great  Hunter— the  wild  Ass 
(tamps  o’er  his  Grave,  but  cannot  break  his 
Sleep.” 

That  has  been  good  enough  for  most  of  the 
oets  and  critics  of  our  age;  it  has  been  quoted 
imes  without  number,  as  an  example  of  nobility' 
nd  music.  It  is  not  good  enough  for  Mr.  Le 
lallienne,  who  rewrites  it  thus: 

The  dove  shall  coo  upon  your  castle  wall, 

'he  timorous  lizard  o’er  your  head  shall  crawl— 
Who  lies  so  still  within  this  ruined  grave? 

Vhy,  this  was  Bahr&m,  noisiest  of  them  all!” 

We  need  not  pursue  this  tiresome  investigation 
jrther.  In  some  cases  Mr.  Le  Gallienne  attains 
considerable  prettiness,  in  others  he  misses 
le  march  and  dignity  of  the  theme  altogether, 
i  every  case  we  may  be  thankful  to  know  that 
e  stamps  over  FitzGerald’s  grave,  but  cannot 
reak  his  sleep.  This  silly  attempt  to  paint  the 
>se  and  gild  refined  gold  is  doomed  to  oblivion 


The  little  “Pocket  Magazine,”  published  by 
Stokes,  has  cast  in  its  fortunes  with  “Frank  Les¬ 
lie’s  Popular  Monthly,”  thereby  putting  an  end 
to  its  independent  position,  but  prolonging  the 
existence  of  a  surprisingly  large  subscription 
list. 


When  “Omar"  FitzGerald  made  his  friend, 
YVilliam  Aldis  Wright,  his  literary  executor  he 
knew  that  he  was  leaving  his  reputation  in  safe 
hands.  The  event  more  than  justified  his  confi¬ 
dence.  One  refreshing  fact  that  has  stood  out 
from  amid  the  welter  of  nonsense  due  to  the 
Omar  cult  has  been  the  faultless  attitude  tow¬ 
ard  the  whole  business  of  the  man  best  quali¬ 
fied  to  speak  of  FitzGerald  and  his  works.  Dr. 
Wright’s  first  service  to  his  old  friend  was  the 
publication  of  those  three  volumes  of  “Literary 
Remains”  which  are  still,  for  those  who  really 
care  for  FitzGerald,  the  most  satisfactory  monu¬ 
ment  to  his  genius.  This  was  in  1889.  In  1894 
Dr.  Wright  prepared  the  two  volume  edition  of 
the  Letters  alone,  for  the  Eversley  Series;  a 
year  later  he  made  a  volume  of  the  Letters  to 
Fanny  Kemble;  in  1900  he  published  the  “Mis¬ 
cellanies,”  and  now  he  is  giving  us  what  will 
probably  be  his  last  contribution  on  the  subject 
in  the  shape  of  a  illume  of  “More  Letters  of 
Edward  FitzGerald." 

In  all  his  transactions  with  the  work  and 
fame  of  the  famous  writer  and  hermit  he  has 
used  the  utmost  discretion,  the  most  perfect 
taste,  and  especially  has  he  kept  himself  in  the 
background.  Until  the  portrait  appeared,  of 
which  we  give  a  reproduction  to-day,  his  per¬ 
sonality  remained  absolutely  unknown  to  the 
general  public.  Yet  Dr.  Wright  is  a  man  of 
whom  the  public  may  well  have  desired  to  hear 
more  than  has  been  put  in  print.  In  the  early 
sixties  he  was  doing  good  work  as  a  contributor 
to  Smith’s  “Dictionary  of  the  Bible.”  From  1870 
to  1885  he  wras  secretary  to  the  Old  Testament 
Revision  Company.  With  Mr.  W.  G.  Clark  he 
edited  the  Cambridge  Shakespeare  and  the  Globe 
Edition  of  Shakespeare’s  Complete  Works,  the 
latter  an  edition  which  has  deservedly  been  one 
of  the  most  popular  ever  published.  He  has 
done  much  other  useful  literary  work,  and  since 
1888  he  has  filled  the  important  post  of  vice¬ 
master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  His  is 
indeed  a  worthy  name  to  figure  in  the  list  of 
FitzGerald’s  friends,  the  list  that  includes  the 
names  of  Tennyson,  Spudding  and  Thackeray. 


•i 


One  day  in  1859  a  certain  personage  by  4fhe 
name  of  Whiteley  Stokes  was  walking  along  the 
streets  of  London.  He  paused  in  front  of  a  book 
shop,  being  a  lover  of  books,  to  look  at  the  bar¬ 
gains  offered  in  the  stalls  of  the  dealer  outside 
his  door,  Fingering  over  the  booklets  in  the 
penny  box  he  came  upon  a  brown  covered 
pamphlet  which  had  originally  been  published 
at  five  shillings,  but  which,  apparently,  had  met 
with  such  a  poor  reception  that  it  had  fallen  to 
the  level  of  the  penny  box.  The  pamphlet  con¬ 
tained  quatrains  from  ,  the  Persian  of  Omar 
Khayyam  translated  into  English  by  an  anony¬ 
mous  writer.  Investing  a  penny,  Stokes  took  the 
pamphlet  home.  After  reading  it  he  passed  it  on 
to  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  who  in  turn  read  it 
and  passed  it  on  to  Swinburne.  All  seemed  to 
think  that  the  verses  were  poetry  of  a  high  or¬ 
der,  and  spread  the  knowledge.  It  was  discov¬ 
ered  that  the  translation  was  by  the  well  known 
recluse  Edward  FitzGerald,  who  two  years  previ¬ 
ously  had  offered  some  of  “the  less  wicked”  of 
the  quatrains  to  “Frazer's  Magazine.”  The 
editor  failing  to  recognize  their  merit,  they  did 
not  appear  in  that  publication,  and  FitzGerald, 
tired  of  scanning  the  pages  Tor  them,  gave  them 
to  his  publisher,  Mr.  Quaritch,  who  issued  them 
in  the  five  shilling  pamphlet.  Fit2Gerald  was 
born  on  March  31,  1809,  at  Bredfleld  House,  near 
the  market  town  of  Woodbridge,  in  Suffolk.  He 
died  on  June  14,  1883,  at  Merton  Rectory,  Nor¬ 
folk,  and  was  buried  at  Boulge. 


